![]() So what we’ll be talking about throughout the rest of this article on the ethics of life extension is not extending the unhealthy years of our lives, but extending our healthy, active, vibrant years and why (quite a few, actually) people think that could still be a bad thing. And, as we also discussed in our first article, there’s plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that anti-aging interventions can do just this in both animals and in humans. The technical term for this is compressing morbidity: shortening the decrepit, morbid years and extending the healthy ones. What if you could have the body you had at 25 well into your 80s or 100s or 120s? What more could you do with those extra rich years of life? Who could you become? Healthspan, or the years of our lives when we’re unencumbered by disease or disability, addresses just that. Human life extension addresses both chronological and biological aging it asks not just how can we live longer, but how long can we live well. ![]() Stuck in a wheelchair, you’ll have to play bingo for an extra fifty years while you’re forced to stay alive through uncomfortable tubes up your nose or something.Īnd believe me, no one, myself included, wants that.īut what spanners and other people interested in human longevity want is not just extended lifespans, but extended healthspans.Īs we said in our very first article on human life extension here: Many people, when they think about life extension, assume the process will simply extend the tail-end of our lives, adding more years on to that period when we are beset with frailty and age-related mental and physical decline. In this post, we’re going to try and address all these longevity objections, and more (Immortal dictators! Religious concerns! Social Security!), but first we should talk about that last question (being old and decrepit for decades) briefly. “Who would want to live to 150 if you’re just old and decrepit and in a nursing home all that time?” ![]() “What about overpopulation and the environment?” I’m sure you’ve heard, or even thought of, many of them yourself. In fact, there are a lot of ethical arguments against life extension (as my sister is wont to remind me). She’s always been the one in my family most vocal about her concerns with the pros and cons of immortality.Īnd I think the potential problems of increased life expectancy that she identifies are concerns a lot of people share.īecause once you get past the question of if radical human life extension is even possible, the inevitable next question is, “ Should we do it?” ![]()
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